These prompts really make me think. It’s refreshing. That a few phrases or words can help us to reflect on life. Why all this reflecting? Why can’t you just lead life? I know that these are the questions that might come up in you, dear reader. A reader wrote to me saying that I am intense. I take it as a compliment.
My word for 2017 was “Faith.” I thought that this is the year I would regain my faith in love, life, and the Universe. Did I? I lost faith when I viewed the actions of some people. But then, I thought as the year draws to a close, what is the use of faith if you lose it? Faith and loss can’t be together, can it? So, I think that faith served me well. I believe that faith showed me the path to inner journeys, to understand that everyone wants happiness and that our actions are not always the reflection of our innermost selves or desires.
For 2018, I think that my word should be “Connections.” I took a personality test earlier this year and found that I am an INFJ personality. Suddenly, it seemed like what I thought was just me, wasn’t me at all, but a personality by itself. The INFJ loves solitude but craves connections. What could be more bizarre and so me?
This year, I want “connections” to help me understand how to reach higher on my values of compassion and kindness. This year, I want to reach out to all the connections I value the most in life. I also want to reach out to new connections, spurning judgement, and making friends with people I would normally not think much of. The world is interconnected, now more than ever. Everything that we do has an impact somewhere. I think of this when I realize that me saying a cheery “Good morning” to the guy who collects the parking tickets at the Metro station might just ease the next hour for him, standing in the sun, and issuing tickets from a machine. I believe that this year, I would like to use the connections we all share to create my first Happiness and Joy workshop. I believe that I would like to use the connections formed through this blog to serve us to realize the beauty in all of us. That I do believe. I do have faith. That we have an inner beauty that can overcome all our darkness. If I can exist and preach about Happiness and Joy tomorrow, so can you. So can all of us.
